Last month we told you about an outfit called Dyne that was about to launch a new app for pop-ups (private, one-time-only, fixed price, fixed menu, limited-seating private events). The developers were pretty uptight about their operations and afraid that premature publicity would somehow ruin their work. Didn't happen.
In the meantime, Julien Perry has been running a real pop-up venture called the ONO (for One Night Only) Project. Along with a longtime pal, Melinda Melissa Peterson, Perry has partnered with top local chefs (Thierry Rautureau, Josh Henderson) to stage monthly dinners at established restaurants or catering spaces (Mallett, in Sodo, is a favorite), almost always on behalf of a high-profile charitable cause or non-profit.
Pop-ups, as we pointed out last month, are a great proving ground for new concepts and aspiring exec chefs; they can fill up a restaurant on a slow (or dark) night. But they're quite time-consuming to pull off; ONO has become a pretty-much full-time job for both Perry and Peterson. Sound like a gig you'd like? Here's the path Perry took: a UW degree in communications; a series of internships in Tacoma, Seattle and New York; a stint at the Art Institutes; work at Seattle Weekly writing food gossip for Jonathan Kauffman; herding cats and wrangling freelancers at Eater.com; food editor at Seattle Magazine. What's next? Her own venue would be nice. Meantime, "maintaining good relations with the industry." She's proud of the fact that no chef has ever said no.
Next up: a mezcal brunch atop the Mezcaleria Oaxaca on Capitol Hill, July 26th. A few days later, Women Chefs. Details at the ONO Project website.
PS: My regrets, Mlle. Peterson, for misspelling your name.
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